The Russian delegation’s visit to the White House, organized by the office of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), is drawing sharp criticism from pro-Ukraine lawmakers, as the conflict with Iran threatens to draw more attention from Moscow’s four-year war against Kyiv.
“Foreign political allies of our adversaries should NEVER be allowed on Capitol Hill,” Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.)wrote on X Friday. This “visit” opened the doors to a serious #security threat to the Speaker, our Parliament and democracy itself.
Luna joined Republican Representatives Eli Crane (Ariz.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Andy Ogles (Tenn.), along with Democrat Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), for the meeting, according to a photo posted by Luna. TheMPs met with the Russian delegationincluding Vyacheslav Nikonov, grandson of Joseph Stalin’s aide, and several members of the Russian Duma’s foreign affairs committee.
They posed for pictures outside the American Institute of Peace and were seen walkingthrough the Statuary Hall of the Capitol.
“If I can come to the table to find peace, then everyone can,” Van Orden said in a statement, referring to his three years of military service, “working to counter threats linked to Russia and Iran across Europe.” He continued: “The killing time must stop, and the only way to peace is negotiations or great power – and we will not fight with Russia.”
Lunawrote on X Thursdaythat “we owe our citizens open dialogue, ideas, and open lines of communication.”
“We will continue to promote this dialogue and push for peace to support this push for peacekeepers, as well as economic opportunity,” he said. Spokesmen for Crane, Ogles and Gonzalez did not respond to a request for comment.
But several members criticized the Council members for holding the meeting at all.
“I find that very problematic,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told POLITICO about the visit.
And the criticism didn’t just come from Democrats.
“As self-proclaimed enemies of the American way of life and perpetrators of horrific murder, members of war criminal Putin’s regime should not be welcomed in any way,” Rep. Joe Wilson (RS.C.) said in a statement. “I liken this meeting on Capitol Hill to a visit from the Third Reich.”
When asked about the meeting, Representative Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a statement that “Russia’s Putin and his cronies hate America, they hate freedom, and they want to undermine America at every step. Their invasion of Ukraine is a serious war crime.”
A State Department spokesman confirmed the meetings between members of Congress and Duma representatives on Thursday, and said the Russians would be meeting with a “federal government delegation” at the Peace Institute, which is one of the few organizations or buildings that allies of President Donald Trump have rechristened after him.
A State Department spokesman said “a junior State Department official will join each of these meetings as a record keeper.”
TheThe confab came with Russia under fire for sharing intelligenceand Iran amid the US operation, which the European Union argued this week has helped Tehran kill Americans. TheThe Kremlin has said it will end its cooperationand Iran if the United States suspends its cooperation with Ukraine, a proposal flatly rejected by the administration.
“Authorized officials do not arrive by accident — they were granted visas, they were granted permission and authorized by our government to be here,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “The decision reduces the costs we have imposed on the Kremlin and provides access and legitimacy when we should be doing the opposite.”
Quigley called the delegation’s trip “yet another extension of the Trump administration’s moral balance between Russia and Ukraine in this war.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) criticized Luna for giving a “private tour of the Capitol to members of the Duma who like Putin,” and referred to the Russian leader as a “good adviser and friend” of President Donald Trump, in a statement.
“Perhaps he learned from his Russian colleagues how to be completely submissive to an authoritarian president,” he said. “Perhaps they discussed their shared opposition to Ukraine’s democracy and human rights and the sheer excitement of being on both sides of Trump’s chaotic war on Iran.”
Ben Johansen contributed to this report.
